


MORE LOVE

by friday



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, for real tho they try their best to use their words, kink: communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 09:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16083590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friday/pseuds/friday
Summary: In an ideal world, this is how their relationship would have come about:Jaemin sends them all an eight-slide PowerPoint presentation titled “P’00LY?: YOU, YOU, AND YOU BELONG WITH ME (AND EACH OTHER),” and then proceeds to give them all an impassioned, well-thought out, well-reasoned, and well-argued speech on why they should make it official—all of them.In the real world, it's a little more complicated than that.





	MORE LOVE

**Author's Note:**

> listened to the drake/sade [more love](https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/vacations-more-love-new-mixtape.117206.html) mixtape while i was writing this, so the title is from that

The way their relationship had come about was like this:

Renjun Huang, Donghyuck Lee, Jeno Lee, and Jaemin Na, best friends and erstwhile lovers, were all hanging out one day in one amorous, amorphous blob on the couch in Jaemin and Jeno’s suite. Jaemin slithered off the couch to stand in front of them. When Donghyuck lifted his head from the cradle of Jeno’s shoulder to blink sleepily at Jaemin, he said, in cryptic response, “Check your AirDrops.”

He’d sent them all an eight-slide PowerPoint presentation titled “P’00LY?: YOU, YOU, AND YOU BELONG WITH ME (AND EACH OTHER),” and then proceeded to give them all an impassioned, well-thought out, well-reasoned, and well-argued speech on why they should make it official—all of them.

Just kidding.

They’re nineteen-year-old college students. How do you _think_ their relationship came about?

 

 

The first documented sighting of all four of them together had been at orientation. Donghyuck, Jeno, and Jaemin had gone to high school together, where Jeno and Jaemin had considered each other good enough friends that they elected to live together their first year of college. The housing gods smiled upon their friendship by assigning the two of them to a three-person suite, their hypothetical third roommate having dropped out of college before it started to pursue his dreams of being a pop star in China.

Donghyuck hadn’t been choose-to-live-together close with either of them, but he was excited-to-be-on-the-same-floor close to both of them. Renjun was their floormate, a cute guy who Jaemin had spotted as they’d all filed into the lounge for a welcome pep talk from their RA, a high-strung biology grad student named Taeyong.

“Whoa, cutie alert,” Jaemin had said, nudging first Jeno, then Donghyuck. “Three o’clock.”

Donghyuck had looked up just as Renjun had.

“Whoa,” Donghyuck said, just as Renjun smiled shyly and said, “Hey.”

It was the first and last time any of them would ever see Renjun that shy ever again. Neither Jaemin nor Donghyuck were any good at playing coy, so they’d immediately exchanged glances, before scooting over to sit next to Renjun. By the end of the session, they hadn’t heard a single thing Taeyong had said, but they _had_ formally inducted Renjun into their group, effectively completing their square of friendship.

 

 

By the time spring semester came around, Jaemin was still carrying, like, the tiniest torch for Renjun. Renjun was coyly mum about how he felt about any of them romantically, although he had a tendency to throw an arm around Jaemin’s neck when drunk, reeling him in and providing just enough kindling for Jaemin’s torch to keep burning.

Donghyuck and Jeno were kind of a thing, in the sense that they’d intensely made out three weekends in a row now, despite the fact that a good third of their group chat was dedicated to Donghyuck’s various crush sightings around campus. It wasn’t that Jeno had the eternal patience of a saint or something, but Donghyuck was really cute and really funny and really good at kissing, and, as Jeno kept trying to remind himself: this was college. You couldn’t bring high school puppy love to the college dog fight.

One night, after drinking the entirety of a bottle of smoky mezcal they’d lifted from a bio department function they’d crashed by following Taeyong to it, and then flirting outrageously with all the members of his cohort, they’d all ended up in Jeno and Jaemin’s suite, giggling and drunk and piled atop Jaemin’s big bed in the main room. When they’d found out their third roommate wouldn’t be joining them, Jaemin had pushed the two beds in the main room together and then called dibs.

What happened next was kind of confusing. Jaemin disappeared down the hallway to get a bucket of ice, Jeno disappeared into the bathroom to pee and run his head under the sink, and Donghyuck and Renjun looked at each other. A current passed between them, heady and electric. They shrugged drunkenly at each other, _why not_ , and started kissing.

When Renjun pushed Donghyuck back onto Jaemin’s pillows, moving to straddle him, Donghyuck decided to open his eyes, which meant looking right at Jeno, who’d just come out of the bathroom, soggy-haired and lucid-eyed, and with the most constipated expression Donghyuck had ever seen on another human being on his face as he looked at his cute friend straddle his sort-of-crush on his best friend-slash-roommate's bed.

“Oh my God,” Donghyuck said, (gently) throwing Renjun off of him. “I’m so sorry,” he said to the room at large, and then pushed past Jaemin, who’d just come back to the room with his bucket, to dart back to his room, just two doors down.

 

 

Donghyuck was back the next morning, dejected-looking and suspiciously hangover-free at nine in the morning as he knocked on the door to Jaemin and Jeno’s suite.

“Jeno,” he began, when the door opened. “I wanted to apologize for— wait, Renjun?”

Renjun at least had the gall to look sheepish, considering he was wearing a shirt with their high school logo on it, the neck cut away to reveal his collarbones. “Morning,” he said, voice still a little rough with sleep. He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his bedhead. After a pause during which they looked at each other, he said, “You, um. You probably didn’t need to leave last night.”

Donghyuck looked past him to where Jeno and Jaemin were curled up together on Jaemin’s frankenbed, Jeno’s head pillowed on Jaemin’s shoulder. There was a Renjun-sized space next to Jeno where the blankets had been pushed away when Renjun got out of bed, and, if Donghyuck squinted, he could make out a Donghyuck-sized space in between Jaemin and the wall.

“I can't believe you guys,” Donghyuck said, both amused and a little hurt, his voice carrying enough to make Jeno stir.

Renjun pulled him into the room so that Taeyong—or worse, his scary boyfriend Dongyoung—wouldn’t hear him and come out to investigate. Inside Jaemin and Jeno’s cozy room, with Renjun’s warm, small hand wrapped around his wrist, Jaemin and Jeno looking sweetly drowsy in bed, and faced with the myriad of choices available to him, Donghyuck realized life was too short to be angry and to not pursue the possibility that he might be able to touch mouths with three of the cutest boys he’d ever known.

“Look, Donghyuck—” Renjun began, before he was cut off by Donghyuck pulling off his hoodie and kicking off his slippers (just two doors down, remember).

“Come on,” Donghyuck said, grabbing for Renjun’s hand again and making for the bed, where he pushed at Jeno’s warm back until, grumbling, he rolled both himself and Jaemin towards the wall. Donghyuck slid in behind Jeno, pulling Renjun in after him.

Jeno jolted when Donghyuck’s cold feet slid against his calves. “Wha—”

“Jeno Lee, you player,” Donghyuck whispered into the nape of Jeno’s neck. Behind him, Renjun had curled up against his back, thin arm wrapped around his waist. “I came to apologize, but now I think I’m the one who’s owed an apology.”

Guilty silence. Jeno was way too nice for his own good, Donghyuck thought, delighted.

“Donghyuck, I—” Jeno started, turning to face him.

Donghyuck cut him off with a swift kiss, just a quick press of his mouth against Jeno’s. Right as he pulled away, he tongued the curve of Jeno’s bottom lip, noting with satisfaction the way Jeno’s head automatically nodded forward, chasing Donghyuck’s mouth.

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to beg,” Donghyuck said, snuggling in again. They were all going to wake up so sweaty; he should’ve kicked off his sweatpants before he’d gotten in bed, too. “I forgive you. Back to sleep, Lee. We’ll talk in the morning.”

A hand reached down between them, smacking first Jeno and then Donghyuck in the face.

“Shut the fuuuuuck uuuuup,” groaned Jaemin from Jeno’s other side. “Too early for this, you brats.”

Jeno grabbed Jaemin’s hand, pressing a kiss to it before sinking his teeth lightly into the palm. When Jaemin yelped, he made eye contact with Donghyuck, both their faces splitting into grins.

“Sorry, Nana,” they chorused.

 

 

They really did talk about it the next morning. They sat in a circle on the floor in front of Jaemin’s frankenbed, eating delivery from IHOP, which Jeno and Donghyuck had whipped out their respective parents’ credit cards to buy, because if this didn’t count as an emergency, what did?

Jaemin had a pen, the blank back of his Intro to Psychology syllabus, and the iBooks version of a book about polyamory at the ready, because Jaemin was weirdly actually kind of a good student.

“This is awkward,” Renjun said, his container balanced on his knees. “Do we really have to, like, talk about it? And like this?”

“Ooh, affirmations,” Jaemin said, talking over Renjun and almost missing his mouth with his forkful of pancake as he scrolled down his phone. “Let’s do these. I’ll start: _I deserve love_.”

He passed the phone to Renjun to his right, who looked at it, sighed loudly, but took it. “Fine, what’s next? _My body is sexy_ — okay, no. Jaemin, come on.”

“This is a top-rated book on polyamory,” Jaemin protested, but he pocketed his phone. “Okay, okay. We should talk about it, though?”

“What is there to talk about?” Donghyuck asked, sneaking a sausage link from Jeno’s plate. “I like Jeno, Jeno likes me, Jeno also likes Renjun and you, vice versa and etcetera, etcetera. Easy.”

Jaemin narrowed his eyes at Donghyuck’s bent head. “ _Do_ you even like me, though? Or are we just both dating Renjun and Jeno?”

“I wish you wouldn’t talk about me like I wasn’t here—” Jeno started, just as Renjun said, looking a bit embarrassed but pleased, "Wait, who said anything _dating_ —"

Donghyuck’s head snapped up, an offended expression written on his face. “ _Jaemin Na_ ,” he said, sounding scandalized. “I never want to hear you doubting yourself like that ever again.” His mouth curled into a smile that would be sexy if the effect weren’t ruined by a dab of bright blueberry syrup by the corner of his mouth. “C’mere, hot stuff.”

Laughing, Jaemin went. Donghyuck yanked him the rest of the way by the strings of his own hoodie, which Jaemin had put on over his tank top when he’d finally dragged himself out of bed that morning. Their mouths met over the mass of takeout containers between them, and Jaemin made a surprised sound when Donghyuck’s teeth sank briefly into his lower lip. Then he deepened the kiss, hands coming up to cradle Donghyuck’s face just as Donghyuck dropped the hoodie strings to palm the back of Jaemin’s neck instead, hand sliding up into his hair.

Jaemin had gone in intending to make a show of it, but a genuine zip of electricity ran up his spine when he felt Donghyuck’s hand in his hair.

The only reason they broke apart was Renjun, who had cupped his hands around his mouth and was booing. Jeno, next to him, had turned a bright red, his jaw dropping open a little. Jaemin caught his eye and grinned, winking exaggeratedly. Jeno rolled his eyes.

“I thought we were supposed to be talking,” Renjun said pointedly, crumpling a napkin and throwing it at Donghyuck.

Donghyuck caught the balled-up napkin with one hand, his other hand finding Jaemin’s. “And who was the one who didn’t want to talk,” he shot back, tossing the napkin at Jeno, who fumbled it.

Renjun groaned. “Don’t be annoying,” he said, before lowering himself into a horizontal position, wriggling until his head was resting on Jeno’s thigh. “Show over yet? You believe that Donghyuck thinks you’re hot, Jaemin?”

Jaemin grinned, grabbing Renjun’s foot and tickling it. “Still haven’t heard you say it, though, Huang.”

“And you never will, Na.”

“So, are we good?” Donghyuck asked, sliding over to Jeno with a slightly predatory look on his face.

Jaemin thought about all the subheadings he’d scrolled past in the book about honesty and proper communication and boundaries, but then he looked at Jeno, who he’s known now for four years and counting, too-honest Donghyuck, and Renjun, who, truth be told, still made Jaemin a little nervous on a day-to-day basis. Renjun saw him looking and smiled reassuringly, reaching out with his foot to nudge at Jaemin. Fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Jaemin blew him a kiss, bracing himself for the worst.

To his surprise, Renjun blushed a little, before sitting up to nudge at Jeno’s arm so it’d slide around his shoulders, and answering for Jaemin: “We’ll make it work.”

**Author's Note:**

> \- written for [this](https://curiouscat.me/mouthkissed/post/645923505?1537771290) anon prompt on cc! this became... way longer than i anticipated!! hahah. who is this weirdly productive pod person who's taken over my body?????
> 
> \- for all the 9% fans out there... jaemin and jeno's mysterious third roommate is fan chengcheng
> 
> \- the book that jaemin buys is the ethical slut by dossie easton and janet hardy, which i actually haven't read in full... i don't think it's a perfect book (what is!) but what i did read of it served as a good intro to poly relationships, which i think can be difficult but very rewarding. obviously the one in this fic is super-idealized (but also... who knows... teens are so enlightened these days) so i just wanna say that open communication and honesty are key in any relationship ♡
> 
> \- [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/mouthkissed) / [cc](https://curiouscat.me/mouthkissed)


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